Friday, February 2, 2018

I signed all the kids up for modeling here in Japan. I don't think it is something we will regularly do because all the time and work honestly doesn't seem worth the money. But I do want them to at least try it each once for the experience. I had to send in pictures of the kids and I thought I'd share. I'm not posting Calista's because I just posted a bunch of pictures of her.

Thursday, February 1, 2018

The kids went to their first day at the Yokosuka Bilingual School. They aren't attending school there but once a month they have activities the weekends. It was pretty much a full school day for them and a great chance for them to meet Japanese kids.

When I came to get them at the end of the day the kids were taking turns telling everyone about their new friend. They all had a Japanese partner they were supposed to learn about.

Leon was bored and rolling around on the floor. He had never gone to a full day of school before and by 4 o-clock he was pretty over it.

While the kids were in class Calista and I had the whole day to ourselves. Bob was working, so we checked out the mall for a while. This is pretty much how I look whenever I go out, black coat, baby in front, backpack in back.

I just included this next picture because as I was looking through them I thought it was funny how we both looked in the mirror in the first pic and at the camera on the second.

I almost wanted to get these cat pajamas just so I could really experience the marshmallow feel. Cat things are really popular in Japan.

After the mall we met Bob for lunch then headed home for a nap and yoga before going to get the kids. It was so nice, I felt like I had all the time in the world. I just kept thinking about how if I sent the kids to public school my life could be like this everyday.

Wednesday, January 31, 2018

One thing I love about living here in Japan is the free gym access. There are two good size gyms that are free that we can go to pretty much whenever we want. I guess Bob had that back in Washington, but I never did. There are group classes that you can pay for but there are a couple free ones as well. We took a break from swim lessons for a couple months but I wanted the kids to keep up with what they already learned so we took them to the pool a couple times.

Everyone loved it except for Calista. She seemed kind of confused and upset most of the time. By the end both times she started experimenting with the water on her hand but that was about it. I'm sure if we took her more regularly she would like it, but honestly that isn't going to happen.

At first I thought I would just teach them to swim and it would be just as good as the lessons. I was wrong, just because I've watched the kids participate in swimming lessons does not mean I know how to teach them. My attempt at lessons didn't go well, but they had so much fun just playing around in the water, I think that helped them with their skills just as much as my teaching would have. Sometimes just having fun in the water is all it takes.

We just signed up for a new homeschool swimming class during the days that I'm really excited about. It will be once a week and I hope the kids can make some friends along the way.

Tuesday, January 30, 2018

Calista is nine months old! To me she has grown so much over the last month. She finally sleeps through the night! She goes to bed around eight and wakes up to eat sometime between four and six, after which she usually goes back to sleep for a couple more hours. It is amazing!

Calista likes clapping, she gets so excited that she can do it that she smiles so big when anyone claps around her. She loves baby food and now wants to eat real food whenever others are eating. I put vaseline on there because she really likes to play with my container of vaseline, I'm not sure why. Calista has learned the game of dropping things and then making others pick it up for her so she can drop it again. She loves to grab the face/neck of whomever is holding her and just really squeeze. Her nails get sharp and it hurts. She also is getting better at her walker and sometimes it seems like she is moving to the places she wants to go on purpose.

Calista does not like strangers or getting her nose wiped. She seemed to have a cold that lasted forever. Anytime I tried to wipe her nose she acted like I was trying to hurt her and fought as hard as she could not to let me wipe her face.

I love this dress and will be sad to see it go. It is size three months though so this will be her last time wearing it. I had to make it last as long as possible because most of her bigger dresses are packed away. Everything I previously bought for her that was size six months she won't use at all because they are packed and she is now in nine month clothing.

Calista once again did amazing for the pictures. I think she is learning that if she just smiles and looks at the camera we can be done faster. Maybe she should teach the other kids that.

Calista does not crawl or really get on her hands and knees, but I suspect she will soon. She has really started to reach for things and I can see she wants to go places. Things get hard once a baby can crawl so I am just fine with her taking her time on this. She also doesn't have any teeth. I thought all my other kids had teeth by now so every day I keep feeling in her mouth and trying to look for teeth. She loves it (just kidding, it's almost as bad as the nose wiping to her).

I really feel like things have gotten easier this past month. The sleeping makes a huge difference and now that she is really good at sitting if I give her enough toys she will sit and play with them for a bit before insisting I pick her up. It is great!

Monday, January 29, 2018

It has been freezing outside lately, like literally zero degrees Celsius (I'm not sure if I'll ever get used to not using Fahrenheit), but we are making sure to get out and explore anyway. I'll be so happy when we get all of our stuff and Penelope can have her warm coat again. She wore a sweatshirt and her coat and gloves but was still almost in tears during the hike at one point because she was so cold.

We went with our hiking group to Kinugasayama Park. It's a charming park with plenty of trails and little wooden animals everywhere.

When we first got to the lookout spot the children found these awesome icecles growing straight into the ground. This piece tucker is holding he actually flipped it over for the picture, so the ice was growing straight down. They were so thin and fine. I've never seen anything like it. Nature is cool.

I held a couple in my fingers to make sure they were ice and after rubbing for a second they melted away.

I only took pictures of a couple animal sculptures. Scarlett was happy to pose for me.

I gave Penelope my scarf because she was frozen like a popsicle.

The kids were excited when we got to the playground.

I walked around the corner and Japan surprised me once again. I've never seen anything like this at a kids playground before. Tucker and Penelope loved it! Scarlett even got into it after a while, but it was a little hard for Leon.

Calista and I kept walking around to keep warm.

On the way back Penelope and I took the longer path to get a picture of this Koala, my favorite.

Sunday, January 28, 2018

I love getting new clothes. There is something about wearing an outfit for the first time that just makes me feel special and happy. I got this new shirt and skirt in the mail from Shein the other day. The skirt was only $10 and the skirt $12, I kid you not! I'm really happy with both the fit and the quality of these items. If you are on the fence, just get them, you won't regret it.